If passed, in the next few years all new vehicles will have drunk driving technology installed to monitor if you are under the influence

[Reality vs Adventure]

As part of the infrastructure bill in USA, the next few years all new vehicles will be equipped with technology that can monitor your alcohol levels. There are several features that have been tested, and it's still up in the air which to use, but it can monitor how you are driving compared to your usual habits. The steering wheel can have alcohol detection from your breath, or the gear shift or ignition starter will have a blood alcohol detector through skin contact. How accurate can these actually be? I don't know how many times I've been fuming from a hangover which could fail a breathalyzer test, but not driving impairment. So what are the consequences if your vehicle detects impairment? That has yet to be mentioned from this bill. Would the police automatically be contacted? Would you get a notice in the mail saying you have a court hearing? Would the vehicle power off? I personally think it is a step in the right direction and I hope they get it right, but doesn't sound it would be accurate at all to me. Plus with people wearing masks, that can block the car's alcohol reading. You can wear gloves to use the gear shift. So we will have to wait and see. One thing is certain though, there are at least 10,000 deaths a year from alcohol related driving just in the U.S. The American Beverage Institute lobbies for alcohol consumption at restaurants and they claim will have consequences. I'm sure there will be because your grandma can run into some problems after the birthday get together. But boohoo and who fucking cares. 

Is this a good solution? What other things can the vehicle do to deter driving under the influence?  

[killamch89]

So once the vehicle knows you're drunk does it just contact the authorities or does it just refuse to start? How effective is this if you wear a mask?

[Reality vs Adventure]

The infrastructure bill that just passed includes this monitoring system in new cars! But still, how many people are buying new cars? So this won't have much of affect anytime soon as most people are driving used vehicles. But at least something was done. 

On 8/9/2021 at 10:15 PM, killamch89 said:

So once the vehicle knows you're drunk does it just contact the authorities or does it just refuse to start? How effective is this if you wear a mask?

Not sure how it's gonna work yet. But even if they wear masks, there is also technology to detect the blood alcohol through skin in the ignition starter. But then again, gloves can prevent that. So unless a probe is jammed up their asses, people will probably still get away with drunk driving. But at least one thing may have a fail safe, which is the vehicle being able to detect abnormal driving behavior compared to the usual driving behavior stored in the car's artificial intelligence. But I still see there being issues if maybe you are tired while driving, will the vehicle contact police? So maybe this is all gonna be an annoyance. What I would do is have your driver's license barcoded and scanned as you purchase the alcohol, then scan it every time you start up the vehicle. If you've bought more than a set limit, then you can't drive for 24 hours. I don't give a damn about the crying snowflakes. Stay the hell off the road if you bought a bunch of alcohol. Simple as that. 

[Head_Hunter]

The invention of the technology via vehicles gonna make sense indeed, looking at the rate of death rate caused by alcoholism. I think it shouldn't allow the vehicle move an inch, of the driver is influenced by alcohol. 

[The Blackangel]

1 hour ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

What I would do is have your driver's license barcoded and scanned as you purchase the alcohol, then scan it every time you start up the vehicle. If you've bought more than a set limit, then you can't drive for 24 hours. I don't give a damn about the crying snowflakes. Stay the hell off the road if you bought a bunch of alcohol. Simple as that. 

That could be an idea, the issue there is that, just because a person bought the alcohol, it doesn't mean that they drank any of it at the time. If I go out and buy a gallon of whiskey and a 12pack of beer, but don't hit any of it when I get home, should I not be able to go anywhere for 24 hours, just because I spent $40 at a liquor store?

The only way I can think that this would work (at least right now) is if they installed something that checked your blood, like a diabetes test. A drop of blood scanned for intoxication levels. Until that's done, the car won't start. But then, that also doesn't have an affect for people who are stoned, because things like that aren't found in your blood, unless you mainline it.

[Shagger]

In the UK, this wouldn't really work because of how the drink driving law is enforced. If you're pulled over and it's suspected you have been drinking or have been in a collision (every driver involved in a crash is breath tested as standard procedure), the breath test the administer gives a reading. Refusing to provide a sample is a crime that carries the same sentence as drink driving, so one may as well just cooperate. If the test is positive, you are then arrested on suspicion of drink driving, not arrested nor charged for  drink driving. This is an important distinction, so bear that in mind. Once arrested, you are taken to the police station where you provide another two samples, a blood sample or a urine sample and it's this test result that matters in court. So for example, if you blew above the limit at road side, but the sample you gave at the station indicated you were below the limit, you couldn't be prosecuted as the road-side sample doesn't hold up as evidence in court.

 

That's why the idea of the car "alerting" the authorities wouldn't really work here because there's no way the testimony of your car would not be enough to convict you. If the car somehow did alert the police, all you would have to do is claim that you weren't the one driving because the police haven't actually seen you drive it. and there would be nothing they could do. It just wouldn't be actionable, so it wouldn't be much of a deterrent. The only way this could work is if the car detects that you under the influence, it would then immobilise itself so you couldn't drive it. Even with that, there is a problem because it just isn't that simple. What if the car can't distinct between somebody who's drunk and someone with a medical problem? What if the system detects a problem while the vehicle is in motion? That could be dangerous. What if the driver is sober, but the passenger is not and that passenger leans over to adjust the radio or AC? I just think the system can be made cleaver enough to not cause problems. not to mention all the legal red tape.

 

It's a nice idea, but in the real world, I just don't think it would work.

[Justin11]

Drink-driving have led many able bodied individuals to early dead thumb. That's why we need to be careful after drinking, instead drink responsibly when you know you'll drive. 

[The Blackangel]

Artificial Intelligence would be a requirement for this. The car would have to be able to think, and then decide whether to take over the drive, or to let the person behind the wheel continue to drive. Think something like the movie Demolition Man. Or cars would have to be fully unmanned as far as a driver goes, and you just program the address in to where you want to go, and it takes you there. But once again, that's fiction at our current level of technology. It may not be for much longer, but at this current moment, it is.

There are so many variables that could influence a valid, trustworthy reading on the BAC of the driver, that I don't see any of this truly being effective any time soon. If ever.

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 11/11/2021 at 10:48 AM, The Blackangel said:

That could be an idea, the issue there is that, just because a person bought the alcohol, it doesn't mean that they drank any of it at the time. If I go out and buy a gallon of whiskey and a 12pack of beer, but don't hit any of it when I get home, should I not be able to go anywhere for 24 hours, just because I spent $40 at a liquor store?

That is true, and it won't stop those who plan ahead from drinking and driving if they got some booze stored up for the weekend or some party. But this idea will cut down on those that are a very high risk, the alcoholics, who aren't good at storing alcohol for future planning. And those every day drinkers would be the primary target who pose the greatest danger within that 24 hour period. Not to say the weekend binge drinkers aren't a threat, but there isn't much to do about them except relying on vehicle artificial intelligence that knows their driving patterns. Even then, issue would arise on when the 24 hour cut off begins. It should start 3 hours after purchasing alcohol so there is plenty of time to get home. But the car can malfunction and cut off when you are still in the parking lot. So there really isn't a one solution to prevent drinking and driving except to ban alcohol or tax the hell out of it. 

 

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 11/11/2021 at 11:17 AM, Shagger said:

In the UK, this wouldn't really work because of how the drink driving law is enforced. If you're pulled over and it's suspected you have been drinking or have been in a collision (every driver involved in a crash is breath tested as standard procedure), the breath test the administer gives a reading. Refusing to provide a sample is a crime that carries the same sentence as drink driving, so one may as well just cooperate. If the test is positive, you are then arrested on suspicion of drink driving, not arrested nor charged for  drink driving. This is an important distinction, so bear that in mind. Once arrested, you are taken to the police station where you provide another two samples, a blood sample or a urine sample and it's this test result that matters in court. So for example, if you blew above the limit at road side, but the sample you gave at the station indicated you were below the limit, you couldn't be prosecuted as the road-side sample doesn't hold up as evidence in court.

 

That's why the idea of the car "alerting" the authorities wouldn't really work here because there's no way the testimony of your car would not be enough to convict you. If the car somehow did alert the police, all you would have to do is claim that you weren't the one driving because the police haven't actually seen you drive it. and there would be nothing they could do. It just wouldn't be actionable, so it wouldn't be much of a deterrent. The only way this could work is if the car detects that you under the influence, it would then immobilise itself so you couldn't drive it. Even with that, there is a problem because it just isn't that simple. What if the car can't distinct between somebody who's drunk and someone with a medical problem? What if the system detects a problem while the vehicle is in motion? That could be dangerous. What if the driver is sober, but the passenger is not and that passenger leans over to adjust the radio or AC? I just think the system can be made cleaver enough to not cause problems. not to mention all the legal red tape.

 

It's a nice idea, but in the real world, I just don't think it would work.

Those breath tests are always designed to make you fail it and leave it up to the courts and urine sample. States in the U.S. are all different, but in Texas if you go to jail then the urine sample is mandatory. They only check blood sample if you refuse the urine sample. Then you could actually sit in jail for a couple months till you get the blood lab results. But they don't tell you that so you might as well piss in a cup. As you mentioned, there are too many flaws and legal red tape. I would take some serious drastic measures and target alcohol itself instead of vehicle technology. 

[The Blackangel]

30 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

That is true, and it won't stop those who plan ahead from drinking and driving if they got some booze stored up for the weekend or some party. But this idea will cut down on those that are a very high risk, the alcoholics, who aren't good at storing alcohol for future planning. And those every day drinkers would be the primary target who pose the greatest danger within that 24 hour period. Not to say the weekend binge drinkers aren't a threat, but there isn't much to do about them except relying on vehicle artificial intelligence that knows their driving patterns. Even then, issue would arise on when the 24 hour cut off begins. It should start 3 hours after purchasing alcohol so there is plenty of time to get home. But the car can malfunction and cut off when you are still in the parking lot. So there really isn't a one solution to prevent drinking and driving except to ban alcohol or tax the hell out of it.

The only way I can see that actually working would be to have a camera at the register and to use face recognition technology to identify people, and a rating show up on their risk level. Then it would determine how much alcohol they could buy. And if they tried to go to multiple liquor stores or bars, they would be red flagged and refused. But then again, that would be dependent on anyone selling being willing to follow the law, or not be willing to go in for them to get them the booze. No matter what mouse trap you build, there is always a mouse that can get the cheese without setting it off.

[Reality vs Adventure]

16 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

The only way I can see that actually working would be to have a camera at the register and to use face recognition technology to identify people, and a rating show up on their risk level. Then it would determine how much alcohol they could buy. And if they tried to go to multiple liquor stores or bars, they would be red flagged and refused. But then again, that would be dependent on anyone selling being willing to follow the law, or not be willing to go in for them to get them the booze. No matter what mouse trap you build, there is always a mouse that can get the cheese without setting it off.

That same red flag can be used scanning ID when buying alcohol because many times when I bought alcohol, some stores actually do scan your DL and swipe it through a machine I guess to see if it's real. Some stores scan everyone's DL as store policy I guess. But who knows, they probably also check for warrants. So why not have all ID's have  an alcohol purchase monitoring system. If you think about it, who knows what all the bar codes on our ID's contain. Driving is a privilege and not a right. So checking your DL for alcohol purchase doesn't violate any rights like a facial recognition might cause a lot of controversy. 

[Rain Dew]

They already have away to install a breathalyzer into the car so a person has to breathe into for the car to even start. I don’t see why car makers don’t just do this for all new cars. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 11/13/2021 at 12:44 PM, Rain Dew said:

They already have away to install a breathalyzer into the car so a person has to breathe into for the car to even start. I don’t see why car makers don’t just do this for all new cars. 

That's a good point. But to make it less intrusive, I think the new technology may have something like that installed in the steering wheel that detects breath. And I've been wondering about the mask thing and if it really would stop the smell of alcohol. Thinking about it, I don't think a mask will stop the smell of alcohol. Because we also sweat it out and the alcohol fumes are so strong that even with a mask on, the sensor will probably still be able to detect alcohol if installed in the steering wheel. But what you said about breathing into the breathalyzer may be most accurate. And it won't allow you to start the vehicle if detected. If it's in the steering wheel and casually picking up the air in the car, then how far along in the vehicle can you drive before it detects anything? But people will complain about breathing into something to start a car. I had the option to do that one time but I decided I'd rather go to jail than do that. lol

[Justin11]

Let's see and watch how the technology gonna detect those who are drink driving in the United States of America. My cable is always ON steadily I'll keep close ear to foreign news this days.